Family Reunions in Cairns

Wednesday 13 August

We said farewell to John and Marion, each of us sad to have had such a short time together. We drove down to Cairns and found the Botanic Gardens quite easily. As we were earlier than anticipated we had a coffee then rang cousin David and Trisha who came to meet us.

We all had quite a long walk through the gardens and around the lakes. The bamboo collection is quite stunning with some bamboos over 6” in diameter.

I was also amazed by the sausage tree and some of the leaf patterns on other plants. There was an extensive boardwalk through the melaleuca swamp where I did keep my eye out for crocodiles in case they ate me before the mozzies carried me off.

We then followed David and Trisha through Cairns to the southern end of the Esplanade where they took us to lunch at their favourite restaurant, M.Yogo at the Pier. The food was delicious. Kathy and I had barramundi of course.

Then David and Trisha led us to Ed and Jenny's where we left the car and accompanied them to their home. We exchanged family history updates, family news and had a short time chatting to Paula while she was up. It was great to catch up with them all again after about 12 years. I just wish we could have more time together.

David drove Kathy and I back to Ed and Jenny's where Ed had just arrived home from work. We introduced Ed to his relative whom he did not know lived just one suburb away.

Ed made a delicious chicken soup for dinner and in time Jenny was home to enjoy it with us. Again there was catching up to do before settling in for the night.

Thursday 14 August

After Jenny and Ed left for work Kathy and I decided it was time for a domestic day of washing, diary writing, photo downloading and backup, charging batteries, updating blog and sorting our food supplies for the next leg of our journey.

We rang my other cousin Cathy who came to collect us at about 1pm and took us to a local shopping centre for lunch and a bit of grocery shopping. We had lots of time to catch up on family news and update family history pages.

When Cathy dropped us home again the dogs, Billy and Noah, greeted us with much tail wagging. We then did a bit more email and preparation for dinner and packed away the food we had bought. Then it was time for a read and rest before cooking dinner.

What a great day to choose to have a day off. It has rained on and off all day and now the clouds have completely obliterated the hills behind Cairns. It is also cool enough to put on my long-sleeved Tshirt.

As I was on dinner duty tonight I had chopped all the veges and meat ready to start cooking when Ed came home. However, after I had difficulty lighting the gas he worked out that they had run out of gas. This was quickly fixed as Ed brought in his camping stove, a very neat little box affair. I cooked the stirfry only to find that the gas ran out on that stove as well. Luckily I had just finished cooking when it happened.

Jenny arrived home late so there was only a short time to chat before we all went to bed, by which time the rain had really settled in.